Sutton marathon runner meets man who gave her his medal

PHOTO/ SUBMITTED PHOTO

Brent K. Cunningham, and his wife, Karin, of Sitka, Alaska. Mr. Cunningham gave his Boston Marathon medal to Laura Wellington a 2006 Sutton High School graduate who didn't finish because of the bombings.

Brent Cunningham had finished his first Boston Marathon when he heard the two bombs explode, and then he and his wife and 17-year-old daughter saw a young woman sitting on a bench crying.

“I knew something was wrong,” Mr. Cunningham, an Alaska resident, said in a telephone interview from Boston Thursday.

Mr. Cunningham said his wife, Karin, a nurse, asked the woman if she was OK and if she knew where her family was. Mrs. Cunningham took the space blanket, given to keep them warm after the race, from around her husband's shoulders and placed it around the woman to comfort her.

Mr. Cunningham said that's when the woman, who he has since learned is 25-year-old Laura E. Wellington, a 2006 Sutton High School graduate, was one of the many runners whose race had been interrupted because of the explosions.

“I just saw a young gal in need and I just wanted to be able to help her,” he said. “I thought, 'She's alone. She's scared. She's cold. She didn't get to finish.' I just wanted to comfort her so I took my medal from around my neck and placed it around her neck. I said, 'You are a finisher in my eyes.' And she started weeping and we left. I felt that she needed the medal more than I needed the medal. I think it just comforted her in a time when she was alone.”

A former high school math teacher from Auburn, Wash., Mr. Cunningham moved with his wife and two daughters 12 years ago to Sitka, Alaska, a small island of 8,000 people and 13 miles of road. Juneau, the capital of Alaska, is 100 miles by boat. He is regional director of Young Life, a Christian outreach ministry for youths in 75 countries.

As he and his family walked to their hotel after the marathon, he said he never expected to see the young woman who was in distress again. But he didn't know that Ms. Wellington was determined to do whatever she could to find him, thank him and return his medal. She later received a medal.

A story about her attempt to find the good Samaritan that Ms. Wellington posted on Facebook Tuesday went viral, shared more than 100,000 times. The following day, the two connected to each other on Facebook. Thursday, they met again after Mr. Cunningham flew back to Boston to be interviewed for a segment that will air on “20/20” Friday night. Mr. Cunningham said they both were in tears when they met.

The two runners and Ms. Wellington's family were to have dinner together in Boston Thursday night.

“It was so great to meet up with her. She's just a sweet gal,” Mr. Cunningham said. “Through this whole encounter, we've been really blessed. It's been kind of crazy how this all happened.”

Ms. Wellington, who lives in Cambridge and works as a claims adjuster for a Boston insurance company, could not be reached for an interview.

On her Facebook page she said she was half a mile from the finish line when the explosions happened. She said she was crying because she started to panic, knowing that her family was somewhere near the finish line waiting for her and she was not able to reach them by cellphone.

“Odds are I will never see this couple again, but I'm reaching out with the slim chance that I will be able to express to them just what this gesture meant to me. I was so in need of a familiar face at that point in time. This couple reassured me that even though such a terrible thing had happened, everything was going to be OK,” she posted on Facebook.

Diane Wellington of Sutton said it took her, her husband, Parker Wellington, their son, Parker III, and Laura's boyfriend, Bryan O'Neil of Charlton, about an hour to get in touch with her daughter. Their cellphone batteries were dead from tracking Laura all day. Fortunately, their son's office at High Street Partners, where he is a consultant in international business, was only three blocks away. Police had cut the cellular service in the area by the time they got there, but they were able to use his land line to reach Laura.

She said this was Laura's first Boston Marathon. The only other marathon she has run was in Jackson, Miss., in January. Mrs. Wellington said her daughter raised $4,700 for running the Boston Marathon for the Goodwill of Boston's Youth Initiative program that helps underprivileged youth in the Boston area.

Mr. Cunningham, who took in a Red Sox game and toured Boston while in the area, said running the Boston Marathon has been a dream of his for a long time. It took him a couple of years to qualify by 90 seconds last summer. His time in this week's marathon, three hours and 41 minutes, is not enough to qualify him for next year's Boston Marathon.

“I'll probably run again someday, if I get really disciplined and stay healthy. Not just anyone runs Boston. It's the pinnacle of marathons,” said Mr. Cunningham. “What I realize is that Patriot's Day and the running of the marathon is Boston's celebration of who we are. They come out in droves to celebrate each other and to cheer each other on. It's a big party and they love it.”

Contact Elaine Thompson at ethompson@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter@EThompsonTG